While Alex and Gutierrez were discussing how to balance the forces on the planet, the First Regiment of the Defense Force had already reached their designated positions.
Dmitri and his teammates had disembarked from the chimera transport vehicle; although it was a transport vehicle, they needed to get off now for preparation, rest, food, and recovery, before charging at the Xenos.
However, while it was said to be for their rest, the main purpose was actually for the chimera transport vehicles and leman russ tanks, which had been rushing all the way, to rest and undergo maintenance.
Or, as the Tech-Priests would say, they needed to appease the weary Machine Spirits that had been rushing all the way through rituals.
After all, people could sit in the vehicles without much wear and tear, but the various vehicles assigned to the First Regiment could not.
Not to mention the fuel consumption along the way, just the wear and tear of parts and the tracks were enough for the Priests accompanying the First Regiment to perform prostrations while maintaining these vehicles.
Even the seven Imperial Knights and thirty Imperial Knight Squires of the Lin Guang Family, who had gathered at this time, also needed maintenance to appease their restless Machine Spirits, ensuring they were in good condition for the upcoming charge.
Of course, the main reason they had time to maintain their vehicles and appease the Machine Spirits was that the space battle in orbit had largely been decided.
With the Inquisition Black Ship participating, a cruiser and two light cruisers against a light cruiser and two frigates, even though the Ecclesiarchy's armed merchant ship was heavily damaged, it was still a battle with little suspense.
Two Dirge Class ships were sunk, and the Scythe Class successfully warped away after being heavily damaged.
Human technology in this regard was still inferior to the Necrons; the three warships in orbit could not catch up with the enemy.
But even so, this war was already almost without suspense.
Unless the Necrons could produce more troops and warships, the existing human military strength was already enough to crush these Xenos.
Dmitri bit into a corpse starch bar, and although its taste was indescribably bad, it was the most easily obtained sustenance for Imperial citizens.
And whether it was the Defense Force or the Astra Militarum, this was usually used as military rations.
Dmitri had once heard the old drill sergeant from the new recruit camp, who had undergone two life-extension surgeries, mention that when he was in the Astra Militarum, he always carried two corpse starch bars with him wherever he went.
Because this thing, at critical moments, could truly fill your stomach and save your life.
Although the Department of Military Affairs advertised delicious and nutritious food in their manuals, in reality, it completely depended on how far the Defense Force or Astra Militarum's station was from the nearest agricultural world.
If you were lucky, you could indeed eat food made from natural grains, or even rare meat.
(A standard combat ration, canned food is not a drink, but a nutritious porridge, and its shelf life is 160 standard Terra years.)
But if you were unlucky, then pray to the God-Emperor that at least corpse starch was plentiful! Otherwise, if the Department of Military Affairs sent you the legendary Ration Pack 4, which was harder than Ceramite…
Although Dmitri didn't believe the old man's story about him killing an Ork Grot with a piece of Ration Pack 4, he also didn't want to try that legendary ration pack that could be stacked to serve as cover.
The corpse starch bar was already tough on the teeth; he didn't want to have to use an entrenching tool to break it before eating.
After laboriously gnawing on the tasteless, dry, corpse starch bar in his hand, which had been thoroughly compressed by a leman russ's tracks and then soaked in Promethium, Dmitri gathered the remaining soldiers of his squad.
They were a ten-man squad, and now only four people could be accounted for.
Dmitri felt a pang in his heart again; they had gathered to drink together before setting out, and although it was only a bottle of Second Best, the lively and happy gathering of brothers was enough to make one miss the taste of that liquor.
But now, that unfinished bottle of Second Best could only be used to mourn their fallen comrades.
However, Dmitri was not sad; he just listened with his teammates as the Great Sister of the Order of the Ebon Chalice gave a pre-battle speech: "Those detestable Xenos have murdered our brothers and sisters, and now they have attacked our city, attempting to destroy our home! We must avenge the fallen!
The God-Emperor is watching us! He has already bestowed His blessings upon us! All we have to do is bravely charge behind the war machines and kill every Xenos we see! Crush their heads! Just as we have done before! As always! For the God-Emperor!"
"For Rostov!" All the warriors of the First Regiment and the Battle Sisters let out a thunderous war cry together, and even the Imperial Knights blew their war horns.
Originally, this pre-battle mobilization work was to be done by the Commissar, but the First Regiment's Commissar was only appointed by the former Planetary Governor himself and was not an official Imperial Commissar.
So, in this crucial situation, he consciously yielded this honor to the Great Sister of the Order of the Ebon Chalice, who was more suitable for the task.
And this Great Sister did not recite any Ecclesiarchy scriptures to the warriors; she simply aroused the warriors' morale to fight the common enemy, successfully inspiring them.
Immediately, the Great Sister looked at the First Regiment's Commander, signaling that he could depart.
The Commander nodded, then jumped onto his command vehicle, picked up the megaphone, and shouted: "Rostov First Defense Regiment! Fix bayonets, you bad boys! Crush those metal heads!"
"For the God-Emperor, for Rostov!" A thunderous roar responded to the Commander, the engines of the Imperial steel beasts roared, and the leman russ and chimera together formed a steel torrent, charging towards the rear of the Necrons attacking the city.
And in low orbit, the three warships that had finished the space battle all aimed their weapon arrays at the ground.
Even though the Ecclesiarchy's ship deck was still on fire, and a huge Adamantium Emperor statue was chipped, for the followers of the Ecclesiarchy, if Xenos invaded Imperial territory and slaughtered the Emperor's citizens, they would bite off a piece of the Xenos, even if they had to use their teeth!
So, after the crew controlled the deck fires and restored the ship to a state where it could fire, this Ecclesiarchy armed merchant ship was the first to open fire on the ground.
Giant Macro cannon shells, comparable to a leman russ tank, were manually loaded into the breech, then fired with the blessings of Ecclesiarchy Priests and the binary canticles of the Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priests, smashing the Emperor's wrath onto the Xenos army on the ground.
And so, Dmitri and his comrades saw for the first time what it meant for the Earth to dance.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.